I have watched all four seasons, thanks my wife for a translate, and I'm impressed! Extraordinary realistic movie! There is no "superman", "batman", vampires, witches and similar bullshits! This show must to receive reward! I know - the situation in ex communist countries is not good, but now I understand why those people are so sad. Because of this movie, I searched more info about Bulgaria, history, culture... Did you know that Bulgaria is one of the oldest countries in Europa? Did you know that Bulgaria invented Cyrillic alphabet? Did you know that "yogurt" is authentic Bulgarian milk? Did you know that PC has been invented by Bulgarian scientist Atanasov? Oh, my God! We thinking those people are stupid! How can so far I have not seen the Bulgarian cinema!
... View MoreFinally with English subs!! :)search for "pod prikritie English" on youtube.Gl and enjoy this great series!he specially trained agent Martin has been appointed to the most dangerous mission in Bulgaria - to go undercover in the gang of the mafia boss Djaro. On his way he has to encounter a lot of challenges in order to completely become part of the criminal world. His task becomes more complicated when he meets the big boss's girl Sunny. While undercover he gets a promotion in the mafia hierarchy and becomes part of the world - full of crime, violence and corruption. "Undercover" is a modern crime series which realistically depicts the reality of the underground world in Bulgaria. It is a fictional series and is not related to any real persons. However the plot contains a number of real events happening in the modern life that cover the pages of newspapers and magazines-gangster wars, drug market redistribution, forgery, gun shots in the city center, corruption schemes, bank robberies etc
... View MoreMihail Bilalov (Djaro) is the PERFECT actor for a mafia boss. His looks, his manners, his form of speech, there's nothing wrong with how he portrays his character. He's just incredible. So is the rest of the casting crew (with few exceptions). I'm happy that the Bulgarian taxpayer's money are finally going into something worth watching. In the series there are a lot of Bulgarian inside jokes, so I assume it would be slightly harder for international viewers to understand the jokes from time to time. Otherwise the show may not be introducing new things to the genre (is that even possible nowadays?), but it's perfecting on the most important parts. TV series like Breaking Bad have much more higher budgets and their production quality is way better, but Pod Prikritie (Undercover) is still a worthy opponent.
... View MoreThere is a scene in the sixth episode of the first season where the character 'Ivo' is explaining to his boss, the seasoned mafia don 'Djaro', the step-by-step procedures of the preparation for a daring heist that is worth millions. The scene is set in a gymnasium hall with large mat in the middle used for martial arts practice. As 'Ivo' is sitting down on a chair just by the mat, 'Djaro' disapprovingly looks at his shoes which are partly resting on it. 'Ivo' duly takes his feet off the mat. Why is this significant, you may ask? Well, it doesn't contribute much to the plot, but what it is, is a nod from the director: 'I know what I'm doing'. The beauty is in the detail and in nearly every scene in Pod Prikritie, there is something which functions to make it memorable, whether it be the camera angle/positioning, the lighting, the set, or a simple gesture by one of the actors. All the while, the brilliant score provides the necessary emotional backdrop against which the characters' sentiments can be played out.A few of the reviews here take a highly critical approach towards this series, without providing much evidence to justify it. Pod Prikritie deserves so much more than this intellectual myopia. For starters, the acting, with perhaps one single exception, is marvellous. For me personally, the jewel in the crown is Mihail Bilalov who is simply magnificent in the role of 'Djaro' - Pod Prikritie's primary antagonist. Think of him as a more menacing, less humorous version of Jack Nicholson's character 'Frank Costello' from The Departed. From his facial expressions to his body language, he is a master of his role and creates a character who is both believable as a human being and as the emblematic face of Bulgarian mafia.Pod Prikritie's realism is undisputed, and as much as that is a compliment, it is also ironically the point of contention for most Bulgarians. They know this reality; they see it on a daily basis. So why watch it on TV as well? That said, many of the characters have gathered a cult following, while quite a few of their lines have entered the standard Bulgarian lingo.Coming back to The Departed, Pod Prikritie has often been compared to Scorsese's Oscar-winning crime feature. In many ways it is better: less stylized and more convincing. It is hardly surprising that so many foreign distributors have expressed a genuine interest in showing it in other countries. No doubt, the universal appeal of the crime genre always helps, but Pod Prikritie is as good a representative of it as any production you can think of, be it on the silver screen or on television.
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